Places to Go, Things to Do

Lots of Earth Day events around town

Earth Day in St. Louis is getting to be much more than just a weekend festival in Forest Park. There are chances to participate in fun events all around town and during most of April.

April also will be the kickoff of some neat family bicycling schedules that extend through the spring and summer.

Also, in April, the St. Louis Marathon has its Health and Fitness weekend April 8-10, including the windup of the kids' Read, Right & Run program and other Fun Runs for kids of all ages.

Of course, there are many scheduled events for kids and families at city, county and state parks and at institutions such as the History Museum and Science Center.

For spectators, there's the opening of the 2005 St. Louis Cardinal baseball season. This is the last year in the old Busch Stadium.

Each month, Young Saint Louis.com compiles a list of activities and events of special interest to kids and their families. Check Places to Go, Things to Do feature each month and get out and enjoy.

 

Earth Day in St. Louis

The Earth Day celebration in Forest Park will be on Sunday, May 1. But, Earth Day Around Town events are scheduled in many communities and on different dates in April.

The Earth Day Festival in Forest Park is a combination of celebration events and recycling and cleanup projects.

Celebration events range from a festival at the Muny and special programming at the History Museum, Zoo and Art Museum.

There's also an Earth Day cleanup in Forest Park along with wildflower and tree planting in the park.

An Earth Day 5K Walk/Run for the Rivers will be held Sunday morning.

The Earth Day Around Town events range from spring household chemical collection to an Earthways Home Tour and a Clean Air Bookmark design contest. Ellisville, St. Charles County and the City Museum and Butterfly House will have their own Earth Day programs.

For complete details about all Earth Day activities, visit www.stlouisearthday.org.

 

St. Louis Marathon Health & Fitness Weekend

The St. Louis Marathon sponsors its Health & Fitness Weekend from Friday, April 8, through Sunday, April 10. The events are in downtown St. Louis and in Forest Park.

Several of the events on Saturday, April 9, are especially for kids. For instance, the Energizer Read, Right & Run Marathon for elementary school kids will be at 8:45 a.m.

The Read, Right & Run program actually started last fall. Elementary kids sign up to run a mile, read a book and do a good deed each week for 26 weeks. The kids do their final 1.2-mile run on the fitness weekend.

Family Fitness events also on Saturday include a 5K Run/Walk. Included in this event is a final 3.1-mile run for middle school kids in the Read, Right & Run program.

For younger kids, there are Children's Fun Runs, including the diaper dash for kids up to 2 years, a 50-yard dash for kids 2-4, a 100-yard dash for kids 5-6 and a one-half mile run for kids 7-10.

On Sunday, there are Spirit of St. Louis marathon and half-marathon runs as well as the wheelchair marathon event. This year, the St. Louis group is hosting the Missouri State Championship marathon and half-marathon.

For complete details, visit www.stlouismarathon.com.

 

Trailnet bike rides for kids, families

Trailnet is an organization that develops biking opportunities for the St. Louis area cyclists. For kids, one special series is called Kids Fun Club rides.

These rides involve a variety of courses that are challenging but not too difficult. And each ride includes a stop or a designation that's really kid-friendly.

The Kids Fun series starts May 1 and includes a stop at the Carondelet Park pro and amateur bike races. Other rides during the summer include a strawberry festival, a Route 66 festival, a Chain of Rocks bridge birthday party and a Fair St. Louis riverfront ride.

Another feature of the Kids Fun Club ride schedule are free Wednesday evening rides. These include stops for frozen custard.

(Also, note the feature article in this edition telling about the Museum District family ride schedule. The first one of those will be on Earth Day and will feature a stop at the History Museum. Later rides will be with the Art Museum, the Zoo, the Science Center and the Botanical Garden. )

To keep track of all ride possibilities, visit www.trailnet.org.

 

Science Center stargazing space events

The St. Louis Science Center has a long list of activities for April. Two of them are for kids and families who like outer space.

On Friday, April 8, there will be free telescope viewing on the archery range west of the McDonnell Planetarium. Kids and their families get a chance to view stars, planets, constellations and deep-sky objects.

Viewing starts at dusk.

This event is subject to cancellation in cases of bad weather. Before coming, check with the Night Sky Update hotline at (314) 289-4453.

On Saturday, April 16, the center will hold Astronomy Day activities, which include lessons in how to make a telescope and participate in solar observing. There also will be telescope viewing for the public.

For a complete schedule of center events and programs, view www.slsc.org.

 

History Museum's basebal exhibit to close

The Missouri History Museum's "Baseball as America" will close on April 24.

During April, the museum has a series of extra baseball programs that will make exhibit viewing more interesting.

Among the special events are an appearance of Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith on Sunday, April 3; a Vintage Baseball Association conference Saturday, April 9; a look at the historic Negro Leagues on Saturday. April 23, and a one-man theatrical performance about old-time pitcher Christy Mathewson on Sunday, April 10.

For complete museum programming, view www.mohistory.org.

 

Missouri Department of Conservation programs

The 10th annual Wetlands for Kids will be held Saturday, April 2, at the Busch Conservation Area in St. Charles County. The hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Kids and families get a chance to see and participate in a wide variety of outdoor events. They include such things as seeing and touching wetland critters, crawling through a Duckwing Maze, practicing archery and air rifle skills and watching retriever dogs work.

The event is free and no reservations are needed.

Also, the Show-Me Missouri Fish Mobile Aquarium will be back in St. Louis by popular demand. The 40-foot aquarium will be at the Power Valley Conservation Nature Center.

The dates and times are Saturday, April 30, and Sunday, May 1, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For details on all MDC area programs, visit www.mdc.mo.gov. Then you can click on any of the area locations for Busch Conservation, Powder Valley Center, Columbia Bottoms, Rockwoods Reservation and the Busch and Henges shooting ranges.

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